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UK Position Reviews | Running Backs

UK running back Benny Snell took a turn in the captain's chair on the USS New York while the team toured the Mayport Naval Station before the 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl.(Photo: Jon Hale/The Courier-Journal)Buy Photo

LEXINGTON, Ky. -With the 2016 season finished, it’s time to take a position-by-position look at the Kentucky football roster. The Courier-Journal's position report card series continues with the running backs. You can also read the first installment in the series about the UK quarterbacks.

Returning starters: The Wildcats lose both running backs who started a game in 2016 – Jojo Kemp to graduation and Boom Williams to the NFL draft – but do return freshman Benny Snell, who led the team with 186 carries and 13 rushing touchdowns as a freshman. Snell’s production is all the more impressive considering he did not even record a carry in the first two games of the season and split time with Kemp and Williams in the running back rotation.

Other returning players: Snell is far and away UK’s most experienced returner, but sophomore Sihiem King and his 22 career carries could also see an expanded role after Kemp’s and Williams’ departures. A.J. Rose, a 2016 signee who redshirted this fall, is also expected to immediately assume a spot in the rotation during his debut season in 2017. After the TaxSlayer Bowl, offensive coordinator Eddie Gran raved about Rose’s progress during bowl practices. “He was night and day,” Gran said. “You can see the power and you can see the allusiveness and you can see a guy that’s got some talent.”

Important losses: Williams leaves UK after leading the team in rushing in three consecutive seasons. He posted his best season as a Wildcat in 2016 with 171 carries for 1,170 yards and seven touchdowns. Williams ended his UK career ranked seventh on the program’s career rushing list (2,511). While Kemp served as Williams’ backup for much of his career, he was still at the center of many of UK’s biggest wins over the last four years and ended his career with 1,709 rushing yards. Replacing Kemp's leadership will be another important goal for the running back room this spring.

One to build around: Few freshmen in program history have made the immediate impact Snell did for Kentucky in 2016 as he set UK freshman records for rushing yards (1,057) and touchdowns (13). Snell’s physical downhill rushing style suggests he might be able to handle an even larger role in the future, but he should not need to carry the load alone. After Williams announced he was leaving UK for the draft, Snell welcomed more responsibility moving forward: “Now it’s time to take the team over and make the offense even better.”

Addition to watch: Three-star Ohio prep running back Bryant Koback was on pace for the type of senior season that would have kept Kentucky fans worried through signing day about a traditional power flipping him late, but a broken leg ended his season after rushing for more than 1,000 yards and 20 touchdowns in parts of five games. Koback is expected to enroll at UK for the spring semester and continue his rehab in hopes of being healthy enough to participate in spring practice. If he bounces back from the injury, Koback’s reputation as a speedster could earn him a role in the offense as a freshman.

Current 2017 commitments: Bryant Koback (5-11, 191)

Question mark: Generally considered the fourth-best running back on the roster at the time, King was the star of the 2016 spring game with 11 carries for 95 yards and one touchdown, including 84 yards on nine carries against the first-team defense. That performance failed to earn him a spot in UK’s running back rotation in the fall though as he recorded just 11 carries in 13 games. King did regain his role as the primary kickoff returner late in the season, but his only offensive impact came with six carries for 75 yards and one touchdown after the outcome had already been decided versus Tennessee. With Williams gone, King’s path to carries is clearer, but he still needs a strong spring to prove more worthy than Rose and Koback to be Snell’s primary backup.

Key stat: Williams and Snell were the first pair of UK teammates to rush for at least 1,000 yards in the same season in program history. Kentucky was the only Power Five program with two 1,000-yard rushers in the regular season.

Season grade: A+. When quarterback Drew Barker threw for 277 yards in the first half of the season opener, it would have been near impossible to predict the Wildcats would develop one of the most prolific rushing offenses in the country but after Barker’s season-ending back injury forced offensive coordinator Eddie Gran to adapt Snell and Williams became the focal points. The result was UK’s second-largest rushing total (3,044) and the most rushing touchdowns (30) in a single season in program history. UK ranked 20th nationally and third in the SEC in rushing yards per game (234.2).